I really know what
you mean about the difficulty in getting good branching and bud count. Someone recently mentioned the great
branching and bud count of Romantic Evening.It has never bloomed more than five
blossoms to a short stalk for me. A good many other famous irises have
done the same.I am waiting a
second year for Yaquina Blue to bloom at all. Otherwise our iris season has been very
good here and is still going strong.A cool, dry April has enabled me to set many pods, more, I know, than I
will be able to plant this fall.

> Those are
beautiful bi-tone purples. How is the branching and bud>
count?

Bud count is better than the branching, but I'm not sure those
are areas I can really evaluate. So many that I grow that are
registered as having strong branching and high bud count never
demonstrate either trait under my growing conditions. This year
BROADBAND was the only iris that had those. But though it had them
and had full sized blooms, the stalk was only about 14" high. The
overall effect wasn't satisfactory. Sometimes those shorter stalks
will stay in proportion so the TBs are in the IB class. But
branching tends to be in short supply around here. This seedling
makes up for it because it has been so willing to put up stalks.
The photo is in the middle of the second week of bloom and it still
has a way to go before it finishes bloom. For me, the best thing
about it is the ability to manufacture those appendages from start to
finish without dropping them or mixing and matching the type of
appendage.